Monday, September 17, 2012

GIALLO FEVER! is the title Anthology Film Archives (AFA) has given to its upcoming series of Italian slasher films from the 1960s and 70s that begins this Thursday, September 20, and continues through Sunday, September 30. "Giallo" literally means "yellow" in Italian, and the genre draws its name from the type of paperback Italian crime novels that bore bright yellow covers (which, in this case, you certainly can tell a book by) and that grew immensely popular during this period. So of course Italian movies co-opted the idea.
TrustMovies has always been fond of this genre, unfortunately more for what it promised -- cheap thrills, chills and damsels in distress (often, unfortunately, rubbed out in very bloody fashion) -- than for what it actually delivered, for he was nearly always disappointed in the resulting movie.

The giallo depends on blood, gore and creative ways to kill, along with some terrific atmospherics and special effects ranging from those involving blood and dismemberment to others having to do with things like psychedelics. What giallos (the official plural is gialli) don't have much of are characterization, plot coherence, or credibility on any level. Talk about guilty pleasures: Gialli are among the guiltiest of 'em all.

AFA claims this series as New York's first showcase dedicated to this notorious Italian genre: a ten-film, ten-day "extravaganza of killers in black gloves, naked coeds, red herrings,
bloody knives, deranged motives -- and a killer of a time! Apart from the signature blend of style and kitsch aesthetics, the genre also features some of the most innovative scores ever created, by the likes of Ennio Morricone, Riz Ortolani, and Goblin."

Well, OK. And while the genre, according to AFA, began in the 60s and grew hugely popular in the 70s, then pretty much disappeared in the 80s, it managed nonetheless to leave "a legacy of films often overlooked but widely influential on filmmakers such as Brian De Palma and Quentin Tarantino...." I'll say! Remember Dressed to Kill? Now, that's giallo done right. You get all the good stuff -- atmospherics, scares and blood, coupled to crackerjack acting, writing and directing. And a simply wonderful story, jam-packed with shock, surprise, scares and delight. (Yes, that's John Saxton, above, right, in the one black-and-white film in the series, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, aka The Evil Eye.)

While many of the films to be shown here were first released theatrically in the U.S. and are or have been available on VHS and/or DVD, Pupi Avati's THE HOUSE OF THE LAUGHING WINDOWS (above) and Lucio Fulci's DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING (second photo from top) were never theatrically released in the U.S. Fulci's film, in fact, is said to have had only a limited release, even in Europe at the time, due to its its criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. Avati's film, too, is heavy on the imagery of the sadomasochistic rituals of the Catholic Church. And both, as the AFA press materials point out, are set in provincial towns rather than the urban settings of most giallo films.

That's Vanessa Redgrave, above left, and Franco Nero -- who appear in the one real bomb in this series, A Quiet Place in the Country (see below). Following is the program schedule, according to the AFA, along with its own remarks about the films in question. After the listed screening times, if TrustMovies has seen this particular film, he'll offer his comments, too, which will appear after the words TM's view....

Sam, an American writer living in Rome, witnesses a murder attempt. Trapped by a glass wall, he fails to intervene but manages to scare off the killer. The victim survives, and Sam finds himself increasingly drawn to the story, putting himself and his girlfriend in danger. Argento’s assured debut practically reinvented the genre overnight. He infuses the Hitchcockian psychosexual narrative with a whole new visual style, lensed by Vittorio Storaro and scored by Ennio Morricone. See first-hand why Hitchcock himself is said to have declared that, “that Italian fellow is starting to make me nervous,” upon seeing this film.
–Thursday, September 20 at 7:00 and Monday, September 24 at 9:15. Special note; The star of this film, Tony Musante, will make a personal appearance at the Sept. 20, 7pm screening.TM's view:I don't know why Hitch got nervous. The master had depth of content and theme to go along with his amazing style. Argento simply had the style. If you've never seen this one, it's apt to disappoint. If you have, maybe there's more to find on a third or fourth viewing. (I found little, other than some fun visuals, on my second viewing, a couple of decades after the film was released.)

A masked killer is on the loose at a fashion house where all the models end up dead in various gruesome ways. At the center of this is a diary left by one of the victims, which contains incriminating details about the killer. Bava uses light, shadow, and color to stunning effect in this visual spectacle. And as always, his violent set-pieces will dazzle any fan of the genre.
–Tuesday, September 25 at 7:00,
and Sunday, September 30 at 8:45.TM's view: This is maybe the grand-daddy of all giallos, and it delivers the expected (both the good stuff and the bad) in spades. It also delivers that fine actor Cameron Mitchell in what might have been his swan-song, but simply became an odd mid-career move into something different, before the fellow went on to three more decades of film and TV (236 roles in all!).

Stefano arrives in a rural Italian village to restore the local church’s decaying fresco of the suffering of St. Sebastian. The artist was a madman who created art from real life, painting portraits of subjects near death from torture (a possible allusion to snuff films). As Stefano digs deeper into the dark secrets surrounding the artist, a chain of murders begins, and he finds himself at the center of the ensuing nightmare. This masterpiece from Avati will haunt you with its atmosphere of dread and its diabolical twist ending.
–Friday, September 21 at 7:00, Monday, September 24 at 6:45, and Saturday, September 29 at 4:45.TM's view: For me, so far at least, this has been the surprise of the series. I'd always imagined Pupi Avati as a director of so-so rom-coms, so to see his work here came as a shock. Beginning with the mutilation and murder of a hunky young man (this alone is a big change from the usual girls-get-offed giallo routine), with someone -- the victim? the murderer? -- going on at length about colors and paint, the movie brings a young art restorer to a small Italian town (where the population behaves very weirdly; of course this is standard for most giallo) to work on a church fresco of Saint (who else?!) Sebastian. Avati gets his smoke and shadows, his lighting and camera angles on target, the pacing is pretty good, and the locales are aces. And the movie wins the award -- and then some -- for the best use of a visible breast.

A reporter pairs up with a promiscuous young woman to expose the string of child killings in a remote village in Southern Italy rife with superstition and distrust of outsiders. As the usual suspects are proven innocent or end up dead, he must look in increasingly unlikely places to find the killer. This is Fulci’s personal favorite and a must-see!
–Friday, September 21 at 9:30 and Thursday, Septem-ber 27 at 7:00.TM's view: This giallo is indeed unusual, and unusually dark, with a cast that includes Florinda Bolkan and Irene Papas. The human behavior is, as usual, a little too off-the-wall, and the whole thing doesn't quite jell properly. But it's still one of the better examples of this genre included in the series.

Mrs. Wardh, played by the queen of Giallo, Edwige Fenech, harbors a secret vice that she keeps hidden from her older, diplomat husband. When a string of murders by a black-glovedkiller terrorizes the city, her sadistic former lover Jean reappears, intending to blackmail her. To make matters worse, she takes up with a new lover who convinces her to go off to Spain with him for her safety. But is she out of the woods yet? Of course not. The mysterious killer seems to have followed her there….
–Saturday, September 22 at 4:15
and Friday, September 28 at 9:30.TM's view: This particularly loony movie has a ridiculous plot and even more ridiculous character behavior from its leading lady that appears, in retrospect, utterly baffling. Of course, those are two of the seemingly necessary delights of this genre. As to that "strange vice" of Mrs. Wardh (with an "h" yet? Well, that's classy!), whatever the movie might imagine this vice to be, it turns out that this poor woman has absolutely the worst -- and I do mean rock bottom -- taste in men.

A renowned psychic channels the thoughts of a killer and is soon after brutally murdered. David Hemmings (BLOW-UP) plays a British pianist who witnesses this killing from afar and launches a solo investigation, putting his own life in peril. The music by Goblin completes this stylish masterpiece by Dario Argento.
–Saturday, September 22 at 6:30 and Friday, September 28 at 7:00.
TM's view: This is my favorite of all of Dario Argento's work because it succeeds on so many more levels than the usual giallo -- particularly that of Argento's own oeuvre. The cast is better than average (Mr. Hemmings and Clara Calamai, for starters), the mystery is much more interesting and more intelligently resolved, and the set pieces are simply terrific -- plus there are all the usual atmosphere, gore and bizarre music we expect from this practitioner of the yellow.

Massimo DallamanoWHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE? aka THE SCHOOL THAT COULDN'T SCREAM / COSA AVETE FATTO A SOLANGE?
1972, 103 minutes, 35mm.
A teacher and a student having an affair are on a clandestine outing on a boat when they witness the stabbing of another coed. Other gruesome murders follow, and the teacher becomes the main suspect. Dallamano’s complex plot and the shocking climax make this one of the smartest Gialli ever made.
–Saturday, September 22 at 9:30 and Tuesday, September 25 at 9:00.TM's view: This is one I have not yet seen but have heard very good things about. I'll report back as soon as I have viewed it. OK: Just rented it from Netflix, and its reputation is quite deserved. This is, hands-down, one of the most consistently interesting gialli I've seen. It offers everything the genre is noted for, including a particularly nasty means of death (but one that makes unnerving sense once we know the reason for it). What makes the movie so interesting is how the plot opens up and changes (and our reactions to the characters do, too), as the film progresses. The London locations are fun for a change, and lead actor Fabio Testi was one of the sexiest and most handsome males on the Italian film scene for awhile, so seeing him again -- and at his peak -- is quite a treat, as well. (This one plays one more time at AFA, but there is alwasy Netflix, if you miss it.)

Although rarely considered a Giallo, but rather more of a ghost story, Petri’s penetrating study of psychological decay is nonetheless full of the mystery and stylistics found in the genre’s best. Elio Petri does not usually come to mind in relationship to Giallo, but this film has many of the elements found in the best of the genre. The real life couple Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero are paired in this film.
“This Italian-made color film, if you stay with it on its own terms, will absolutely nail you to the seat. … The picture visually hurtles and roars to a climax of complete logic and conviction, blending real and unreal images that will curl your hair. The total effect is devastating.” –Howard Thompson, NEW YORK TIMES
–Sunday, September 23 at 4:30, Thursday, September 27 at 9:15, and Sunday, September 30 at 6:30.TM's view: Mr. Thompson of the Times to the contrary, as noted in my introduction above, this film is the turkey of the series. It's not even properly giallo, as the AFA admits. Instead it's three artists -- Redgrave, Nero and Petri (well, 2-1/2, as Nero is not up to the level of the others) -- gone slumming on a project better left to their lessers. Never much of an actor, Nero embarrasses badly, with little to offer except his pretty looks and a dumb, dense stare meant to represent fear, shock, incomprehension, desire or what have you. The budget is big and the sets are nice, but the story's from hunger. While the film makes use of a lot of the then-current visual pyrotechnics of the time (the late 60s), this one doesn't come near giallo's requisite atmospherics and "creepery."

Nora Davis’s holiday in Rome takes a sudden turn for the macabre when she witnesses the murder of a woman on the Spanish Steps. The next morning there is no trace of the crime, but Nora soon learns that there had been another murder ten years ago at the same location by the so-called ‘Alphabet Killer’. Her morbid curiosity takes her deeper into the story, and before long she discovers that the next victim’s last name starts with D! And who is that man following her? Widely regarded as the first Giallo, Bava’s stylish homage to Hitchcock’s ‘Americans Abroad’ thrillers is a natural entry-point into the genre.
–Thursday, September 20 at 9:30, Sunday, September 23 at 6:45 and Saturday, September 29 at 7:15.TM's view: Here's another film I have not yet seen, but hope to (and report on) before the festival is finished.

A doctor is caught between his mistress and his asthmatic wife. When the wife is murdered, all eyes turn to him, as he holds the insurance claim on her life. Fulci’s first Giallo shares unmistakable similarities with Hitchcock’s VERTIGO, capturing the mood of late-60s San Francisco. Sexual obsession, depravity, and deception converge in its surprising climax.
–Sunday, September 23 at 8:45 and Saturday, September 29 at 9:15.TM's view: Just as the "daring 60s" turned into the "silly 70s," this giallo's sense of perversion comes a little too close to borderline camp. The actors -- Maria Mell, Elsa Martinelli, and the Frenchman who was prettier than both his co-stars, Jean Sorel -- give the movie some beauty but the story is generally tiresome, though the San Francisco locations are fun, as are the clothes, cars and hairstyles of the time.

To learn more about AFA, click here. To learn more about the Giallo Fever series, click here. And to learn how to reach AFA by subway, bus and auto, click here.

Note: If you cannot get to this series or live too far away from NYC, take a look at Netflix's streaming choices (some of the films are included there), or elsewhere in the realm of digital/streaming/downloading.

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Movie criticism (mostly foreign films, documentaries and independents: big Hollywood product hardly needs more marketing), very occasional interviews and ideas from James van Maanen, who began his late-career movie reviewing for GreenCine, then took the big blog step around a decade ago. He covers new movies, video releases, and occasional streaming choices. You can reach him at JamesvanMaanen@gmail.com